College Basketball 2007-2008: November 2007

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnBM01
  • 36 comments
  • 2,637 views
I have a stunner to report. I was watching ESPNU last night. It was the #11 University of Oregon playing at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, CA. This former football school (ended in 2002 or 2003) knocked off Oregon in a 99-87 beating. I can kind of see why most powerhouse basketball schools don't play at more inferior opponents' schools. I always thought the West Coast Conference was Gonzaga... then everybody else. It doesn't mean, however, that somebody like the Gaels of Saint Mary's can knock off some of Oregon's Ducks.

Huge upset. I'll provide limited contributions. So I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving if I don't report on Thanksgiving.
 
I just finished watching the Great Alaska Shootout match between Gonzaga and Western Kentucky. This was a thrilling match until Gonzaga pulled away. Gonzaga beat Western Kentucky 74-71 and will meet Texas Tech in their bracket. Getting hot in Alaska... at least in basketball.
 
This week is supposed to highlight the ACC vs. Big Ten challenge. There's also the Pac 10 vs. Big XII challenge. I often wish there was a good SEC match. Maybe SEC vs. Big East, SEC vs. ACC, or hell... SEC vs. Big XII. Among smaller schools, I'd be interested in a Big South vs. Missouri Valley challenge series. Maybe even Atlantic Sun vs. Missouri Valley.

That would be all from me, so please take care and contribute to these threads whenever you can.
 
Let me take a look at how the men of Kentucky fared so far.

They tamed the Bearcats of Central Arkansas 67-40 on November 6th. We then saw Kentucky lose and lose badly- an 84-68 blowout to Gardner-Webb (perhaps much to the pleasure of Louisville Cardinals) on the next day. Then it was Liberty's turn to take on Kentucky. The Flames got extinguished 80-54 by the cool boys in blue. I know Texas Southern is a Houston team, but I dislike Texas Southern. So Kentucky could do whatever they wanted with them. That even means an 83-35 beatdown on November 24. The most recent game saw Kentucky win 62-52 against Stony Brook.

Kentucky is 4-1 at this point. Here are Kentucky's next five games... They have two tough opponents. They get North Carolina at Rupp Arena this Saturday followed by going on the road (for the first time this season) to Bloomington, IN) to meet the Indiana Hoosiers. Kentucky takes on UAB on December 15th. It can be a guaranteed win against Alabama-Birmingham, but I think this COULD be a trap game. Kentucky will stay with Conference USA teams as they come on down to H-Town to meet my favorite team in my hometown- the Houston Cougars. Houston is nowhere near a fully-ready team. So I don't think in our friendly rivalry (myself vs. FoolKiller) that Houston will be fully prepared to take on the Wildcat attack of Kentucky. If Houston somehow beats Kentucky, the Wildcats will get a huge break when they take on Tennessee Tech back in Lexington.

The real key game is going to be their final non-conference game against Louisville. Kentucky hosts Louisville at Rupp Arena. I'm VERY sure "Believe in Blue" also applies to basketball apart from the good football being played at Kentucky. ESPN college basketball analyst, Dick Vitale, has Louisville in this season's Final Four. They are currently 4-1 as is Kentucky. Their only loss was at home against BYU. Their wins include Hartford, Jackson State, UNLV, and a surprising win against Old Dominion. I thought the ODU game could be a trap game for Louisville. The 'Ville has these five games coming up: they will host Miami University this Saturday. They will host a red-hot Dayton Flyers team the Saturday after. They will play their second road game of the season when they meet Purdue the Saturday after. They'll head home and take on Marshall on December 18th. To end the five-game series, they'll host New Mexico State.


I said that Oakland University had to bring the pain if they want to come alive this season. Well, the Golden Grizzlies are 2-4. As a positive, Oakland played Wisconsin-Green Bay close to a 76-75 loss, and they also played close at Michigan State. It's not easy going into East Lansing and playing against the 2000 National Champs. They ended up losing 75-71 to the Spartans. Oakland's only two wins game against Adrian (not sure about this team) and the pathetic Eastern Michigan Eagles. I can't say EMU is REALLY pathetic because my Speech teacher from Lamar (a lady named Dr. Michalski) is an EMU graduate and a great woman. The Golden Grizzlies just lost today to Cincinnati's Xavier University 93-68. I knew this could be an ugly game.

In case you ask how Tubby Smith is doing with Minnesota... the Golden Gophers are 3-1 right now. Their only loss was at Florida State on Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten challenge. So Kentucky fans ran Tubby Smith out of town, and he's doing a nice job at Minnesota so far. Minnesota doesn't play Kentucky, but I'd love to see a Minnesota/Kentucky match just to see how Tubby's former school is doing compared to his new school.



Duke's men seemed pretty lethargic last season, eventually losing to Virginia Commonwealth. Well, now the Duke LADY Blue Devils are experiencing some heartbreak. The Lady Blue Devils have lost successive games for the first time since 2000. They lost at Connecticut 74-48 on November 25th, then lost 66-58 to Vanderbilt today. I think Duke's ladies can bounce back. In fact, I think they COULD beat at least three of their five next opponents. They have to go to Penn State this Sunday, host Rutgers on December 6, go to Pittsburgh on December 8, and play at home against Utah Valley State on December 18 and Bucknell December 21.


That's my report. If it means anything, I could be somewhat more active with college hoops because my final day of my community college's semester is December 10. I could be more active with college basketball until the season is over in football. So take care and have a great day, everyone.
 
Let me summarize my thoughts on Kentucky basketball. Keep in mind that this is based on typical Kentucky expectations, not relative to the rest of the NCAA.

:scared: :nervous: :scared: :nervous: :scared: :nervous: :scared: :nervous: :scared: :nervous:
 
Well as a friend of yours on GTPlanet, FoolKiller, I especially wish your Wildcats well. In regards to Kentucky basketball, not winning championships is kind of like what Crimson Tide (Alabama) football seems like. Alabama football just isn't the same as when Paul "Bear" Bryant (former Kentucky football coach) was winning championships for Alabama. Kentucky's not really the same as when Adolph Rupp was coaching Kentucky to about four championships. So a question I have for you is... do you think winning can be greedy at Kentucky? Or in other words, is Kentucky so much of a power that any coach who doesn't deliver championship after championship is a waste of money and time at UK? And what do you think of fans who feel like this whenever Kentucky isn't a true winning program?
 
JohnBM01
So a question I have for you is... do you think winning can be greedy at Kentucky? Or in other words, is Kentucky so much of a power that any coach who doesn't deliver championship after championship is a waste of money and time at UK? And what do you think of fans who feel like this whenever Kentucky isn't a true winning program?
Click to expand...
Let me put it this way: Since Rupp the only coach not to win a championship left in scandal.

Let's examine it:
Adolph Rupp: 4 championships - 42 years (1930-1972)
Joe B Hall: 1 championship - 13 years (1972-1985)
Eddie Sutton: Scandal - 4 years (1985-1989)
Rick Pitino: 1 championship - 8 years (1989-1997)
Tubby Smith: 1 championship - 10 years (1997-2007)
Billy Gillispie: ????

So, any coach has very big shoes to fill.


As for what I think of fans that think that we have to have things go this way all the time: They are greedy. Even Rupp couldn't average more than a championship a decade. And considering there was a back-to-back in Rupp's tenure it means he had to go more than ten years between a couple.

Fans who believe that Kentucky must go to the Final Four every two years and have a championship every five are idiots because Kentucky has never done that consistently. I want a 20+ win season every year, because we are the winningest team in college basketball and we do do that consistently. But a championship all the time is a lot to ask for.
 
Back